AO 2013 SF: Murray vs Federer

^ Thanks for the account of what happened EJ. I did watch the match on TV but wasn't sure exactly what happened at that point, and I don't recall the BBC comms saying anything about it other than the fact that Andy had run out of challenges - which seems strange given how squeamish they usually are when Andy swears.

I've watched back on IPlayer and on EuroSport Player. At 6-5 Andy is about to serve for the first point, but Fed asks him to wait - crowd to settle perhaps, comms weren't sure. Then there's a rally which Andy wins with a forehand pass. Then Fed says his thing and Andy does his look.

Andrew Castle (BBC) - I'm not sure what that exchange was about.Matts Willander (EuroSport) Federer said something to Andy.

Didn't see any hesitating, and the comms didn't know what happened. No apologies for any swearing at that point, though there had been earlier (for Fed!).

Only comment here was on this thread page 79 "Lol what was that about?" from Becky!

The microphones are closer to the stands so I don't think they really picked it up. I certainly didn't hear anything anyway. It's only when they're getting their towels it's often picked up (although hardly coherently) before the comms feel the need to apologise when no-one could really make out what they said anyway.

I've watched back on IPlayer and on EuroSport Player. At 6-5 Andy is about to serve for the first point, but Fed asks him to wait - crowd to settle perhaps, comms weren't sure. Then there's a rally which Andy wins with a forehand pass. Then Fed says his thing and Andy does his look.

Andrew Castle (BBC) - I'm not sure what that exchange was about.Matts Willander (EuroSport) Federer said something to Andy.

Didn't see any hesitating, and the comms didn't know what happened. No apologies for any swearing at that point, though there had been earlier (for Fed!).

Only comment here was on this thread page 79 "Lol what was that about?" from Becky!

I heard Andrew Castle say something about "showing respect to opponents" but I thought he was referring to the face that Andy pulled. As he had said he wasn't sure what the exchange was about I was annoyed because I thought he was criticising Andy. It all passed over so quickly I didn't know what it was all about.

I've watched back on IPlayer and on EuroSport Player. At 6-5 Andy is about to serve for the first point, but Fed asks him to wait - crowd to settle perhaps, comms weren't sure. Then there's a rally which Andy wins with a forehand pass. Then Fed says his thing and Andy does his look.

Andrew Castle (BBC) - I'm not sure what that exchange was about.Matts Willander (EuroSport) Federer said something to Andy.

Didn't see any hesitating, and the comms didn't know what happened. No apologies for any swearing at that point, though there had been earlier (for Fed!).

Only comment here was on this thread page 79 "Lol what was that about?" from Becky!

There were a few people still on the move when Andy was about to serve and they were behind Andy, so he didn't have any way to know about it but Federer saw it and he told Andy to wait and he did. Patrick McEnroe at that point made a comment about the crowd as to how they were still taking their time to settle down. Then came the point which caused Federer to snap. Our Comms sort of knew because the camera was focusing on that particular moment in slow motion and both went like 'hmmm'. You could tell that both knew what was said or at least the nature of the words. I first read it as 'f**k you' but when I went back to watch it again, it seemed more like either 'f**king stop it' or 'you f**king stopped'. Our Comms did not make any apologies on Federer's behalf neither did they talk about as to what caused that outburst.

If you watch that point again you will see that Andy did wait for the crowd to settle down. He waited a few seconds and was bouncing his ball. But it's entirely possible he did not wait as long as Federer had wanted him to wait but that does not explain the outburst.

I've watched back on IPlayer and on EuroSport Player. At 6-5 Andy is about to serve for the first point, but Fed asks him to wait - crowd to settle perhaps, comms weren't sure. Then there's a rally which Andy wins with a forehand pass. Then Fed says his thing and Andy does his look.

Andrew Castle (BBC) - I'm not sure what that exchange was about.Matts Willander (EuroSport) Federer said something to Andy.

Didn't see any hesitating, and the comms didn't know what happened. No apologies for any swearing at that point, though there had been earlier (for Fed!).

Only comment here was on this thread page 79 "Lol what was that about?" from Becky!

I only noticed it at the time because of Andy's facial expression that he pulled in response.

I was talking to someone at church today who was watching the semi. She knows I don't like Federer, and she came over to tell me how pleased she was that Andy won the semi. She said she was surprised by how petulant Federer was, said it made him look like a bad loser, and that he should have had a warning for his language. She said that she was really surprised by Federer's behaviour, that he really let the mask slip, especially in swearing at his opponent.

It wouldn't surprise me if Fed's PR team have stepped in here. After all, such behaviour is not worthy of a GOAT - and poor Mirka, when the camera focused on her briefly, looked decidedly uneasy.

It would serve him a lot better if he'd just give up gracefully. I think his record is safe - however, he didn't get to that stage without thinking he owned it. Part of me can get where he is coming from - v hard to give it up.

I've yet to see a convincing VT of this exchange. Not that I doubt it happened, just that a lot of the hard evidence that must exist seems to have been suppressed.

I read on one of the tennis boards a few posters saying it was cut from the American repeat/delayed showing. They quite probably edit various things out to make way for messages from sponsors, and because there was swearing and some folk get upset by that, but that bit was notable in its absence as everyone had been talking about it.

I watched it on the BBC Iplayer and they did not show the angle to see what Fed says but after viewing youtube he obviously does say something along the lines of "you f***ing stopped" but he also swore when Andy had a backhand winner "you're f***ing lucky" which Castle had to apologise for as it was quite audible, and he was also swearing and muttering to himself way more than i have ever previously seen him do, even the umpire got some stick.

Al in all a good day for Andy i feel making thread lose his cool like that, and although i usually destest frosty handshakes at the end of matches, i am glad Andy was sort of "whatever" about it.

I watched it on the BBC Iplayer and they did not show the angle to see what Fed says but after viewing youtube he obviously does say something along the lines of "you f***ing stopped" but he also swore when Andy had a backhand winner "you're f***ing lucky" which Castle had to apologise for as it was quite audible, and he was also swearing and muttering to himself way more than i have ever previously seen him do, even the umpire got some stick.

Al in all a good day for Andy i feel making thread lose his cool like that, and although i usually destest frosty handshakes at the end of matches, i am glad Andy was sort of "whatever" about it.

Looking back on it, it was the first time he swore that was audible. You're right, Castle did have to apologise, which made me smile, due to all the times they've apologised for Andy and made a meal out of it. It was that first one, in my book, he should have had a code violation for, because it was clear.

Oh, I think it was a good for Andy all around. He won, which is the most important thing, but he also got Federer into such a state that he showed himself up and let the mask slip. Brilliant stuff.

Having watched this match again over the weekend Andy had full control over this match at all times. He should have done it in four sets, but never was he under threat from Federer. I think Federer knows that Andy now has the better of him in a slam. But Federer is still the 3rd best, at least until Nadal gets back to full strength! Roll on Wimbledon, I think Andy will be unstopable there, particularly if Federer is in Noles half!